Why Read Your Bible?

Intro -

In following from last weeks series on Why, and last week was Why do you Join the Church,

and not to make anyone feel uncomfortable but no one joined the church, so I hoped you heard what God had to say last week

Another awkward uncomfortable moment maybe but how many of you have read the bible?

This week is Why do you read your Bible?

I mean that is an honest question and other than maybe your Sunday School teacher, or now your pastor tell you to read your bible, do we really know why we should be?

Maybe it’s the church answer of well that is just what we are to do is read

But I am not a reader or this one, it is Jesus's love letter to you, and that makes a little sense, but couldn't he have shortened it to a text message and summed it up for me??

Article - "Christians claim to believe the Bible is God's Word. We claim it's God's divinely inspired, inerrant message to us. Yet despite this, we aren't reading it. A recent LifeWay Research study found only 45 percent of those who regularly attend church read the Bible more than once a week. Over 40 percent of the people attending read their Bible occasionally, maybe once or twice a month. Almost 1 in 5 churchgoers say they never read the Bible—essentially the same number who read it every day."

For use to have any chance at growing in our walk with Christ we must be reading and studying and memorizing Gods word

For us to know more of God we must read what he has sent to us.

It would be like if we starting talking to God and decided not to listen to what he said

Or starting a conversation with your spouse, or friend and then deciding not to listen to them would be ridiculous

How can you know what He has called you to do?

Romans 15:4 NASB95

For whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction, so that through perseverance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.

Corey said that

If we don't read His word we don't know what He is saying to us!

That is specific, because had he said church, it would be a different story, and then we can only expect a few people to read their Bibles

1 We must be reading Gods word

Simply put we must open the book up and begin to read,

Joshua 1:8 NASB95

“This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it; for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have success.

2 We must memorize Gods word

Psalm 119:10–12 NASB95

With all my heart I have sought You; Do not let me wander from Your commandments. Your word I have treasured in my heart, That I may not sin against You. Blessed are You, O LORD; Teach me Your statutes.

Scripture calls us to hide Gods word in our hearts so that we don't sin against it, but we are to also

memorize it so an event of a situation we know what to do, we can recall on it quicker

When we commit things to our long term memory in the heat of the moment we are quicker to bring them up than things in our short term memory,

3 We must be studying God’s word

This is where must of us get stuck, we read and we memorize, but most of us don't take the time to study

to study Gods word means to ask questions, there is a lot in here that I don't understand, and when I don't understand I begin to pray over it, and ask questions,

Deuteronomy 6:6–9 NASB95

“These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart. “You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up. “You shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontals on your forehead. “You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

you must ask questions

Why we are to be reading Gods word

I hope by now that you understand it is more that just opening up this book, but thats is where it starts,

we need to be reading it because how else will we know what to be doing, or how else will we know what God is saying to us

Hebrews 4:12 NASB95

For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

for it to be personal relationship with God your part of the relationship is to be in the word personally, coming to bible study, or Sunday service cannot be enough anymore,

We need to be reading Gods Word so we know what the good news is, which is that Jesus died on the cross to save you!

please don't take my word for what the word of God says, take it home and read it yourselves

Closing - ask the band to come up, maybe you are hear and you would like to join, or maybe you need prayer, or maybe you don't know who Jesus, I would love to talk with you about what Jesus has done in my life and more importantly what He can do you in your life